My feature story/interview with members of The Good Life for The Reader is on newsstands now and online right here. The band talks about their return, their new record (and what it means) and where the band fits in today’s music.

He pointed to a number of Omaha bands influenced by ’90s rock, such as Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship and See Through Dresses. The difference between The Good Life playing “120-Minutes-style” alternative rock versus those bands, Kasher said, is “we’re actually from that era.”

Read the rest here. Everybody’s Coming Down really is a great album and a departure for the band. As described in the article, there’s virtually no acoustic instruments on this record. It rocks more than any past Good Life record and as much as any Cursive album, though it’s not nearly as abrasive. Favorite tracks are “The Troubadour’s Green Room,” “Everybody,” “Holy Shit” and closer “Midnight Is Upon Us,” but it’s all good, and in some ways, more cohesive than a typical “concept album.” Read about it.

BTW, The Good Life kicks off their international tour at this year’s Maha Music Festival Aug. 15. Tickets are still available (for now). Kasher chimes in on Maha in my Over the Edge column in this month’s Reader. Look for it on newsstands, or wait ’til the column goes on line later this week…

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Holly Miranda returns to Omaha tonight, this time to The Slowdown. I interviewed Miranda (via email) five years ago in support of a show at The Waiting Room. The inspirational line from that story:

…Miranda did say how much success in the music business depends on talent and how much depends on lucky breaks and Kanye flukes. “You’ll need a LOT of both, and a strong sense of self,” she replied. “If you don’t know who you are in this industry, someone else is going to tell you who you are and they probably won’t get it quite right.”

No kidding. Read the rest of story from March 2010 here. Toronto’s Marnie Herald opens. $10, 8 p.m.